Hungarian Grand Prix Review

It was a ground-breaking win in so many respects. Alonso became the youngest ever Grand Prix winner, taking over the record long held by Bruce McLaren (not counting Troy Ruttman's win at Indianapolis in 1952). He became the first Spanish driver to record an F1 victory. It was the first win for Renault as a constructor since 1983, and the first for a French manufacturer since 1996. His victory also made him the 11th driver in the current field to have won a GP, impressive when only 20 start each race.

Beyond just Alonso, consider the rest of the podium as well: Kimi Raikkonen in 2nd and Juan-Pablo Montoya in 3rd. In bygone days there was the Prost, Senna, Mansell, Piquet era. Then the Schumacher, Hakkinen, Villeneuve, Hill era. Many think the next phase in Grand Prix history will be the Montoya, Raikkonen, Alonso era. If anyone needed convincing that the transition is well and truly on, the podium of the 2003 Hungarian GP may prove to be a turning point.

It is, of course, premature to say that the reign of Michael Schumacher is over, but another hopeless race for Bridgestone in a string of pathetic outings now makes it look almost certain that Ferrari will be out-scrambled to both titles. Schumi only has one point over JPM and two over Kimi, while Williams have already surged to the front in the constructors'. Michael may still be the best in the field, but surely he must see the likes of Montoya, Raikkonen and Alonso, and surely he knows the next generation is here.

To steal a phrase from ITV commentator Martin Brundle, from Saturday onwards the Spaniard looked truly 'hooked up'. His set-up made the car beautifully balanced, he himself didn't make any mistakes, and on the twisty Hungaroring powerlessness of his 110-degree V10 wasn't an issue. Ironically, just as Renault are about to ditch this engine with which they've been persevering since 2001, it records a win - although without doubt it had more to do with Mike Gascoyne's wonderful aerodynamics on the R23.

The most impressive thing, though, was Alonso's behaviour after the race. Obviously he's not a member of the Schumacher school of Toyota-leaping, nor the Barrichello Kleenex club. Fernando showed hardly any more emotion than he did after his previous podiums in Malaysia and Spain. Instead, his composure was freaky. It had steely determination written all over it, a determination which says that one maiden victory is not going to be enough to satisfy him.

Whenever Alonso gets it all together, though, Trulli seems to be lose heart and go back into his shell. After provisional pole on Friday, he lost it completely in terms of set-up, and spent the rest of the weekend wrestling a difficult car. Although he was the only man to get a decent start from the dirty side of the track thanks to his launch control, he kept slipping down the field and finished a lapped 7th. Renault have re-signed him for 2004, but he all the signs are that he will continue to play second-fiddle to Alonso.

That he had the car speed over the Jaguar to take 2nd in the stops was no surprise, but even if Webber hadn't been in the way, it's doubtful he had enough to beat Alonso on this day. If the Finn loses the title, he will look back on his penalty in Australia and his engine blow-up at the Nurburgring, both of which cost him wins, plus his first-lap incidents in Spain and Germany, some poor Friday qualifying performances, and his mistake in Saturday qualifying in Canada as his missed opportunities more than losing in Hungary.

Still, right now the championship is at a bit of a 'carpe diem' moment. The remaining races, and the title, is there to be won by someone rather than be lost by someone. Since Malaysia, Kimi and McLaren have only definitively looked like taking victory at the Nurburgring and maybe Interlagos. Which is not to say that he would be undeserving if he walked away with the driver's crown, but it would be like Keke Rosberg's title win in 1982 - due to consistency much more than pack-leading pace.

David Coulthard continued his trend of being unable to qualify all that well (although 4th on Friday was a lot more respectable than some of his previous efforts), but he has been one of the best racers this year. Gambling on a two-stop plan, the only frontrunner to do so, he made his tyres last on the hot, dusty, gripless surface, stuck with the race pace, and did enough to beat Webber, Trulli and Schumi home. Re-signed for McLaren for 2004, unless he can improve his qualifying his race skills will go under-utilised.

Ralf's burn from the stern (to use the late Ken Tyrrell's words) was one of his most convincing drives in F1 to date. Making better use of the revised turn 1 than any other driver, and utilising what looked like superb brakes on his FW25, some of his opportunistic moves were quite brilliant, including his pass on his brother. It was a nice way of dispelling the myth that he wasn't a race, that he couldn't pass, and that he didn't have the guts to dive down the inside of his brother.

Montoya's effort was also a good one, although it largely went unheralded. He went from 8th in the opening laps all the way up to third, and all through some startling in-laps and out-laps, and some more excellent pit work from the Williams crew, which has been undeniably the best over the last few events. Taking the fastest lap of the race, and in fact with Ralf recording the second-fastest, perhaps they were the only ones who had the car speed to challenge Alonso, but their poor starts put paid to any chance they had.

However, the Colombian almost waved goodbye to his title chances with his late-race spin, rolling perilously close to the gravel trap on one side and the armco on the other. Like in Australia and Canada, Juan-Pablo has demonstrated a propensity to lose control at critical moments. This is the one question mark against him as he heads into the last three races, although to take five points off Michael at the Hungaroring now has him as firm favourite for the title, with Monza and Indianapolis likely to suit his car.

Also, Brundle in commentary made an excellent point which is worth repeating. On Bridgestone's good days, Ferrari is the only major team to capitalise. Sure, a BAR might come, say, 5th, but Williams, McLaren and Renault are still going to collect big points. On Michelin's good days, those three teams have an excellent chance of locking out the top six, and unless Michael can pull something out of the hat, he is looking at no more than two or three points, with Webber's Jaguar to contend against as well.

When it comes to pulling something out of the hat, Michael has generally been able to do so. But here in Hungary he seemed strangely subdued. His grid position of 8th was his worst since Germany '98, Rubens seemed to have the better of him all weekend, he suffered a mechanical issue when he stalled on his second stop, and otherwise he could do nothing with his in-laps and out-laps. He got stuck behind Trulli, and as in Monaco, seemed like he wasn't interested in passing.

Speaking of mechanical issues, Barrichello's suspension failure was one of the most violent breakages seen for quite a while. Montoya was lucky not to sustain damage from the flying debris. It makes you wonder if Ferrari, whilst showing a brave face, have quietly conceded that Bridgestone won't improve in time, and as a result have let their standards slip as they already look to 2004. So too Michael, and Ross Brawn's strategies, and their formerly peerless pit crew, now not as good as Williams'.

But still, with the 4th fastest lap of the race, his three points were not due to attrition as most of his other points scores this year have been. It was a genuinely competitive performance that not only bodes very well for continued improvement into 2004, but it also keeps Jaguar well in the hunt for 5th in the constructors' title, and it entrenches Webber in 9th in the drivers' championship, making him clearly the best driver outside the eight men in the top four teams.

Justin Wilson admittedly still hasn't settled in at Jaguar, and he isn't doing much better than Antonio Pizzonia did. Being 1.6s away from Webber in Saturday qualifying didn't look smart. With rumours that Jaguar may want a pay-driver for 2004, Wilson needs to up the ante. If he does well and even scores points in the remaining races, he not only consolidates his position, but if he helps Jaguar to claim 5th in the constructors', with the extra money that entails, that will also help him to stay with the team next season.

Wilson's engine expired just over the hour mark, and was one of a spate of Cosworth failures over the weekend which afflicted both Jaguar and Jordan. The Cosworth is supposed to be a powerful motor, but we've seen little indication of that this year. The Jaguars have struggled for straight line speed, although that may also have something to do with the amount of wing they've been running. Still, at least 5 blow-ups over one weekend was enough to earn Cosworth the 'Reject of the Race' award this time.

REJECT OF THE RACE
Cosworth
Five blow-ups over one race weekend!

Ralph Firman's crash in Saturday free practice perhaps shaded Jenson Button's Monaco smash as the biggest of the year. He said afterwards that he felt the car pick up speed on the preceding straight; a more experienced driver would perhaps have guessed that his rear wing had failed or fallen off as it had done. It didn't matter, though, as Ralph was a passenger. It was most unfortunate that the Jordan skated down the grass strip between the armco and the gravel trap, necessary to allow emergency vehicles access, and hit the wall at unabated speed.

The accident allowed Zsolt Baumgartner to make his Grand Prix debut on his home track as the first ever Hungarian F1 driver. He was unanimously granted his superlicence, probably because the powers that be had little other choice, or because they were sympathetic to Eddie Jordan, or perhaps in order to raise a little bit more local interest in the event. Some of the empty grandstands and grass banks on race day were rather embarrassing.

Still, Baumgartner did enough to show that the superlicence wasn't completely unwarranted. He qualified respectably despite only having a few laps to settle on a personal set-up, and may have gone faster had he not accidentally flicked the reserve fuel switch a lap early. He also raced consistently until his retirement. He does have a feel of a pay-driver journeyman who is really not quite good enough for F1, but in Jordan's desperate state he's not without hope of a full-time drive in 2004. He's a cut abouve the likes of Alex Yoong, at least.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen ran out of fuel after his radio failed and he understandably failed to see his pit board whilst running behind Nicolas Kiesa's Minardi. But up to that point HHF said he was enjoying his race. As enjoyable as it could be when he only started ahead of both Minardis and Baumgartner's Jordan. If that's called enjoying your racing, Peter Sauber ought to send him into retirement a few races early and give a young guy with some fire in the belly a go for the remaining events.

BAR's weekend was nondescript, with Jenson Button outdoing Jacques Villeneuve in qualifying again, but the Canadian made a brilliant start and was showing a little more fight before his hydraulics failed early. Considering his dislike for slow twisty tracks like Monaco and the Hungaroring, it was a promising effort, but like Heidfeld it seemed like a case of too little too late as speculation mounts over his future. Very quiet race though from Button which didn't help BAR's chances of holding 5th in the constructors' title.

The Toyotas also don't like high downforce tracks, but this was an improved performance with Olivier Panis starting 10th but disappearing out of points contention right from the start and retiring with gearbox failure. Cristiano da Matta had difficulty coping with the Hungaroring, spinning in Friday qualifying and stalling at the start, almost losing a lap and from there it was just a test session. If Toyota are to consistently challenge in 2004, they will need to get to grips - literally - with the tighter circuits on the calendar.

After a solid debut performance at Hockenheim, Kiesa disappointed in Hungary although once again he was hampered by a lack of track time. His Saturday qualifying time, 7.219s off Alonso's pole, over 2.1s slower than Baumgartner, and outside of the 107% mark, was desperately slow and messy. Thankfully for him the 107% rule no longer exists, but having said that the Dane had recorded times in other sessions that were almost two seconds faster than that Saturday qualifying time.

With three races to go in the most exciting season for perhaps 20 years, both titles are completely up for grabs. But in a controversial development at the time of writing, the FIA have announced that they will measure tread width of front tyres after the race instead of before it, with protests having been made during the Hungarian GP weekend that the Michelins when worn out were beyond the legal width. There is talk of the Michelin teams boycotting Monza, and the title build-up could end up a damp squib.

You can see the cynics scoffing already. The FIA appears to be favouring Ferrari, yet again, some might argue. Was the Ferrari protest out of sour grapes knowing that Bridgestone are going to cost them both championships this year? Have Michelin been intentionally circumventing the regulations? Honestly, why introduce a new regulation with only three races left? Such a thrilling title tussle deserves not to be tinged by controversy or marred by officialdom. Much better for the FIA to deal with this before the start of next season.